Blaz blows gasket over ‘cocktail party madness’
Mayor de Blasio pushed back hard against progressives and so-called elites Friday, railing that everyday New Yorkers aren’t doing enough to address the inequalities he vowed to tackle when he took over City Hall six years ago. De Blasio’s emotional screed came during an interview on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show in response to a caller’s questions about segregation and inequality in the city’s public schools — and what the caller framed as de Blasio’s failure to address those issues.
It quickly escalated with follow-up questions from Lehrer about the city’s outdoor learning plan and the perception that it favors schools with more wealthy PTAs.
“I’m losing patience, respectfully, because there’s so many people who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about, love to criticize and don’t even bother to do the basic research on what’s going on,” de Blasio fumed. “Let’s stop the cocktail party madness. If you actually are serious and are a wealthy PTA, share with a school nearby that doesn’t have a lot of money. That is addressing the tale of two cities.”
Critics have attacked de Blasio and the city Education Department for years over the city’s failure to find a way to admit more Black and brown students to the city’s elite high schools and gifted and talented programs.
De Blasio said Friday it’s not as simple as just addressing the issue through the school system with, for example, busing students, a measure he’s repeatedly expressed opposition to.
“I really wish people would look at the foundation. The foundation is not the school system. It is housing, it’s jobs, it’s economic segregation. It’s a segregated city,” he said. “Everybody’s feeling very good about themselves that they’re talking about the issue. You really want to change things in this city? Then everybody better change a lot of the way we live more foundationally. If you just talk about it and feel self-satisfied, God bless you. That’s not actually going to change things.”
Hizzoner argued that real change will come through wealth redistribution and higher wages for blue-collar workers — and went on to say that is a discussion “elite” news outlets don’t want to have.
“I just feel like this is a lot of cocktail party comfort going on rather than people honestly dealing with this issue. Help me tax the wealthy. Help me redistribute wealth. Help me build affordable housing in white communities if you want desegregation,” he said, though it was unclear exactly to whom he was addressing his pleas.
“If you don’t want to do all of those things, then you’re not serious about desegregation,” he added.
Hizzoner did not stop with the topic of desegregation.
He also went into attack mode against progressives who’ve threatened to sue him over his plan to move homeless people back into shelters after hundreds were transferred to hotels out of coronavirus concerns.
“I don’t care who sues me,” de Blasio said. “This was always meant to be temporary. As the health situation continues to improve … we will start taking people back from hotels into the existing shelters.”